I have a voice and I will not be silenced

The past couple days I have been visiting websites talking about the immigration march I went to in D.C. on Sunday. Some of the blogs I’ve come across are run by ignorant, xenophobic racists.

One of the worst websites I came across was Youth for Western Civilization. After reading William L. Houston’s extremely biased and vile “report” of the immigration march, I was filled with so much sadness for the ignorance that fills his young head.

I tried to comment multiple times. I presented intelligent arguments, and for this, my comments were deleted. I suppose those who run the website are too cowardly and ignorant to respond to factual truth. Meanwhile, they eagerly publish racist ranting comments which are written by people who obviously do not know how to turn off the CAPS lock.

Well, I will not be silenced. So William, and all the rest of you – I’m calling you out on my own blog and you can not delete me here. I will have my say, (even if it is just throwing pearls to swine.) And because you tried to shut me up, I will yell it even louder.

You went to the march/rally with the sole intent of finding “evidence” to jibe with your own misguided beliefs. You took photos of people waving non-U.S. flags just so you could call them unpatriotic. You and I both know, those people were in the minority and that the vast majority of the 200,000+ people proudly waved AMERICAN flags… Besides, even if people showed pride in their roots, how is it wrong? Is it any different than the Republicans who wave Israeli flags, (or worse, Confederate flags), or Caucasians who wear “Kiss me, I’m Irish!” T-shirts?

Second, those with Che Guevara shirts and things of that nature were also few in numbers. I saw ONE person and I was there for several hours. You must have really gotten a lot of exercise walking through the crowd and searching these people out.

In any crowd and at any event, at any gathering of any race or political party, you are going to find people with a different agenda. This rally was full of peaceful, hopeful people and you know it.

You say, “This wasn’t a spontatneous [sic] outburst of American patriotism like you see at the Tea Parties. Rather, it was tens of thousands of people waving small American flags (which the organizers provided them with) … because they want something in return, namely, American citizenship and access to taxpayer subsidized public services.”

You also say, “Some Latino demonstraters [sic] had bigoted, anti- European signs. There were signs at the rally which claimed that North America is a “Bronze Continent” that belongs to Indians and Latinos. There were others which claimed that Europeans were illegal immigrants.”

You are railing against the Latinos at the rally for being bigoted which is the epitome of irony. You also praise Teabaggers for their patriotism. Do I even have to explain how ridiculous that is? So, Latinos are bigots in your mind for suggesting a historically true fact, (that North America was stolen from the Indigenous people), yet Teabaggers, who are absolutely vile racists who most recently shouted “N*gg*r” and spit on a Black Congressman, are cool with you? … You are so far down the wrong path that even a top-of-the-line GPS couldn’t help you find your way back to reality.

“As we were leaving, we noticed Latino demonstrators walking over a discarded American flag on the sidewalk. We shot some video of those patriotic Americans which we will share on YouTube.”

Did you ever consider that perhaps the little flag slipped out of someone’s hand, (perhaps a child’s), accidentally, and it was totally unbeknownst to the person who dropped it? The people who are walking over it are not stomping on it, they simply fail to notice it is there. How does that make them unpatriotic? … You, on the other hand, saw your beloved flag on the ground being trampled. Not only did you leave it there, but you watched, and you took the time to video tape it. What does that make you?

Published by Tracy López

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22 comments

Yowzers- I am so proud of you. You really are so articulate and lay out your facts so well. I just wish people would be open to hearing it, the ones who need to hear it that is. It makes my heart hurt when I thinkk of the hate that brews in the hearts of some people.

@ K – You’re right that the ones who most need to hear this pretty much have their hands over their ears… but if someone with a more open heart reads this and questions themselves for even a moment, wonders if they want to keep living with all that hate built up inside them — then it was worth it.

Yeah, I noticed that the “che” type shirts and foreign flags were definitely in the minority. I’ve made forays into blogs such as YWC, and it is quite frustrating; I no longer go there because I know it is futile; they are too far-gone.

I’d also note that there were other groups of people there–outside of the anti-immigrant types–who were exploitng the situation to spread a non-related issue. Did you see the people hawking the “militant” newspaper? It is a magazine that is just as ideologically corrupt as YWC types–communism at the expense of anything. i.e. they will rail at the U.S. for it’s evil empire yet ignore the evils of governments like Cuba or China.

@bjohns15 – Yeah, I have to stop visiting those sort of websites because the futility of debating people like that is going to burn me up inside.

I didn’t see the actual people hawking the militant newspaper – but I did see a copy of it in the trash.

As you alluded to, these were fringe groups who were there with an agenda much different from the one for which the majority of us assembled. It’s too bad that people would purposefully take their attendance of the event out of context and try to make it reflect on those who were peacefully coming together in the interest of human rights and nothing more.

I didn’t heed my own advice and i dropped some comments over at that site.

I’ve found that if you do enter their dark land, the best way to go about it is to not meet anger with anger; many of those commentators are straight-up stupid for lack of a better term. i.e. they will cite to the constitution without knowing anything about the constitution. It’s fun to pick away at the many inconsistencies they make and then see even more inconsistencies in their responses.

@bjohns15 – Well, it’s hard to sit by and witness such outright racism and do nothing, even though you know it won’t change any of them… Did your comment get published and stay published? Mine kept mysteriously “disappearing”.

Sadly, he is probably too far gone even at his young age to accept anything you’re saying, though you lay it all out so well.

Anyone who can say, “I have no sympathy for the family reunification argument”, is a heartless individual. They don’t see Latinos as humans which makes me sick in my stomach. How can the color of one’s skin, the language that they speak, make them into another creature unworthy of compassion in these people’s eyes? … My mind can’t comprehend it.

I wish I would as articulated as you are. I don’t talk to much about this issue because I get very upset; living in a southern town, I have had a my share of controversy with some co-workers that can not see beyond their noses, in the street I have been told more than once “go back to your country” I am an american citizen now, but it does not matter because when some “true americans” look at me, all they see is a wet back.

@ Micky – Well, you have all my sympathy for having had to put up with such ignorance face-to-face. The “funny” thing is, historically you most likely belong on this land more so than the people telling you to “go back to your country.” You are indigenous to this continent and their ancestors came halfway around the world across a vast ocean. Don’t let anyone make you feel any differently.

@ Humincat – Holy crap. How could your relatives even invite you to join the Tea Party knowing your husband is Mexican? … If you hadn’t realized what the Tea Party was all about and naively showed up with your husband to a protest, you could have faced life threatening violence. Those people are like a combination of the KKK on crack mixed with escaped-from-a-psych-ward mentally unbalanced. (A bad combo to say the least.)

You should become a fan of “Cuéntame” on Facebook. They have a bunch of videos up exposing the Tea Party for what they really are. That would be a nice “subtle” way to send your relatives a message ;)

I just feel so sorry of that guy’s parents. Certainly when our kids grow up they have their own opinions and ideologies, but most of them came from the way that person was raised. The real and first education starts at home.
Still is hard for me understand how somone can live with all that hate.

@ Blo – You bring up a good point. Much of the time, these people are a product of their upbringing. This helps me to get some perspective because it’s difficult to question things your parents have taught you — Yet, I don’t think it’s a solid excuse for racism or ignorance. As a grown adult who has flown the nest, we each have a responsibility to examine our beliefs and become our own person.

The fact that racism is taught in the home from an early age, I think really underscores the importance of “diversity programs” in public schools, though. Hopefully the children will at least grow up with some sort of balance. They can then take what their parents say and hold it up against what they’re taught at school, and analyze for themselves, instead of being utterly brainwashed with no contrast for comparison.

found it funny that you called them ‘teabaggers’. according to urbandictionary.com a teabagger is: well, something not appropriate to write here–well, I assume that a teabagger would be someone who ‘teabags’. yeah, we’ll go with that one! :)

I’m glad you went and represented those of us who are caucasian and who still believe in immigration reform. Weren’t we all immigrants at one time?

@ RADgirl – I wish I’d come up with calling them “Teabaggers”, but it wasn’t me. (I just find it hilarious.) … I think they called themselves “teabaggers” until those familiar with dirty slang started laughing at them and they found out what it really means.

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